The wrestlers of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy traveled to Abington Friends School last Thursday for a tri-meet involving two very different types of opponents. Host AFS was the defending Friends Schools League champion, while Pottstown’s Coventry Christian School had several talented athletes, but a total of only five wrestlers on the roster.

Forfeiting in many weight classes, Coventry lost by large margins to both SCH and AFS, but in the third match a late charge by the Blue Devils almost ate up a large early lead for Abington. The host Kangaroos would prevail, 42-41.

Springside Chestnut Hill had opened its season against another FSL team, Germantown Friends, winning 57-12 in a Nov. 25 encounter with the Tigers.

As opposed to many past years, the Blue Devils are able to fill almost every weight class this season, although many team members are relatively inexperienced. There are even a few upperclassmen who have come out for the sport for the first time.

In their 60-21 victory over Coventry Christian last Thursday, the Blue Devils earned a lot of points from forfeits by the Eagles. In the first actual match, Coventry captured the 120 lb. bout with a first-period pin. In the 126 lb. match involving SCH freshman Asher Silversmith, a very different scenario unfolded.

Silversmith scored the first takedown, led 3-1 at the end of the first period, and was up 5-4 in the middle of the second. His rival took an 8-5 lead into the third frame thanks to an escape and takedown. As the third period wore on, a takedown and back points moved Silversmith back into the lead, 12-9. The Eagles’ entry then escaped, and he completed a takedown with just 14 seconds left to pull out a 13-12 victory.

At 190 lbs., Blue Devils senior Logan Kirkpatrick (actually a rookie wrestler) secured a pin with 51 seconds remaining in the first period. The Blue Devils lost by fall in the 285 lb. bout, and at the opposite end of the scale Coventry Christian won by forfeit at 106 lbs.

The third match of the tri-meet saw Abington Friends build up a significant lead in the team score, with SCH surging in the later matches.

The starting weight was 120 lbs., and Springside Chestnut Hill picked up six points as freshman Holden Corey accepted an AFS forfeit. At 126 lbs., Silversmith was pinned in the opening period by the Kangaroos’ Ari Smith-Power. Another quick pin at 132 lbs. gave Abington a lead in the meet scoring that would hold up to the end.

At 138 lbs., junior Max McDowell of the Blue Devils scored points with a takedown and several escapes, but the hosts’ Khalil Jimenez eventually won this back-and-forth bout with a pin, putting his team up 18-6 overall.

Unfortunately for the visitors, the pins kept on coming for Abington Friends, as wins by fall in the 144, 150 and 157 lb. weight classes spread out the meet score to 36-6.

The Blue Devils’ first actual win on the mat came at 165 lbs. thanks to one of their most experienced grapplers, senior John Pieczynski. He was taking on a female wrestler, Amillyiona Green. After an initial takedown by Pieczynski, Green scored on a reversal, but the SCH wrestler returned the favor and went on to lead 11-2 at the end of the first period.

After a neutral start in the second, Pieczynski recorded a takedown and near-fall, ending the match with a technical fall at 17-2.

With a first-period pin by senior Robbie Murray at 175 lbs., the Devils drew a little closer in the meet score, 17-36. Murray and Pieczynski are team captains for SCH this season along with junior heavyweight Nolan Delaney.

Kirkpatrick, at 190 lbs., and Delaney, at 285, accepted forfeits from Abington Friends. In between, at 215 lbs., sophomore Hagin Foley secured an early takedown but then was docked a pair of penalty points for locking hands. He didn’t repeat those mistakes, and he ended the match with a pin with 17 seconds still to go in the first period.

After the Kangaroos’ forfeit to Delaney, Abington only led the meet 42-35. However, there was only one more weight class in play, and the Blue Devils could score no more than six points. Freshman Adam Keefe completed a pin in 78 seconds to leave the visitors one point short at the end.